17. Welcomes the creation of the Black Sea Civil Society Forum and encourages strengthened cooperation between local authorities, civil society and business; calls on the Commission to provide enhanced support for civil society, including CSO networks; underlines the role of the non-governmental sector in ensuring both the effective implementation of Black Sea Strategy activities and the success of confidence-building measures;

17. Welcomes the creation of the Black Sea Civil Society Forum and encourages strengthened cooperation between local authorities, civil society and business; calls on the Commission to provide enhanced support for civil society, including CSO networks; underlines the role of the non-governmental sector in ensuring both the effective implementation of Black Sea Strategy activities and the success of confidence-building measures;

Mr. Speaker, February is Black History Month, a time when we recognize the many achievements and contributions of black Canadians who have done so much to make Canada such a culturally diverse, compassionate and prosperous nation.

15. Considers that a new Black Sea policy approach cannot be limited to economic cooperation but should also aim at creating an area marked by sustainable democracy, good governance and the rule of law, and underlines, in particular, the importance of political and judicial reform and effective implementation of commitments; stresses that fostering respect for human rights, democracy and fundamental freedoms is one of the main pillars of the EU's external policy, and emphasises the need to mainstream those values respectively both in bilateral relations and in the regional approach, irrespective of the degree of willingness shown by partner governments; calls upon the European Union to address the issues of regional cooperation in these f ...[+++]ields within the human rights dialogues and consultations with the Black Sea countries, as well as within multilateral fora; encourages the Commission to make full use of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights and of the Black Sea Synergy in order to promote regional cooperation among civil societies;

32. Welcomes the new 'Black Sea Synergy' regional cooperation initiative, which supplements the ENP in the Black Sea region by proposing, inter alia, to improve border management and customs cooperation at regional level and to stimulate regional dialogue with civil society; considers that work on a strengthened and coherent engagement towards the Black Sea area could build on the experience gained within the framework of the Barcelona Process and the Northern Dimension; insists that the priorities of this regional approach should be freedom, justice and security, democracy, respect for international law and civil society cooperation.

We should also look at the decades of efforts of other communities such as Canada's Black community in using Black History Month in educating all Canadian youth on the contribution of the Black Canadian community to Canadian society as an example.